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Dolphin Online - Melee Netplay

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
Augs: Use a bluetooth, run dolphin, hit 1/2 at the same time on the Wiimote, and it'll automatically connect as long as you have Real Wiimote connecting on in the Wiimote settings, and have real wiimotes set as your controller type.

But, the main reason I'm here to post is a pretty significant upgrade was found, and I wanted to make sure it was known. I updated the main post with this, but here it is again for people that have only been checking out the latest pages.

Speeding up the game


One perpetual problem a lot of people with budget/older computers is managing to reach a stable FPS. While dualcore provides an excellent speedboost, it also provides a litany of problems and desyncs. So, we've devised a few things to make playing the game as enjoyable as possible!

On a nVidia graphics card, OpenGL will be the faster backend. Make sure you update to the latest drivers, they're often a little bit faster. If you're using nVidia + OpenGL, you absolutely want to go to the graphics/hacks tab and have Hacked Buffer Upload ON. Cache Display lists should be on regardless of your graphics card; it'll give you a several FPS improvement!

While there are FPS codes out there, they garble up the audio and force everyone that is playing to use an action replay code. Worst of all, most users reported that they actually negatively affected input, making the game harder to play. That wasn't going to work long term, so for a while, we abandoned the idea of lowering requirements this way.

But, because Melee was coded in a frame independent style, we can actually use the features of Dolphin to cut down the requirements by as much as the FPS codes. But wait, it gets even better; a weaker computer can use controlled frameskipping to play at 30 or 42 fps, against a player that wants maximum smoothness at 60 fps! How do we do this?

Under the emulation tab, there's a nifty little feature called "frameskip". It doesn't exactly work as you'd expect it, so we have to do a little bit of work to make it work absolutely perfectly. By setting frame skip to 1, we're letting the game know it can skip frames. Because Melee is frame independant, it will keep the emulation/inputs at 60 VPS, which means the game is running full speed. As well, the game audio will also be full speed. In order to insure the framerate doesn't fluctuate too much, make sure you set the FPS limit to 60. If you find that it's jumping up and down too much, you can also set it to 45, and turn "limit by fps" on. That way, it won't jump and possibly throw off your timing. The same things apply for a goal of 30 fps, except you turn the frameskip to 2, and then put the frame limiter at 30 or 35 if it's jumping up and down too much.

With those on, we have the interesting proposition that was brought up a long time ago. Someone playing at 60 fps can play against someone going 40, or even 30 fps, without even knowing it! It will be completely invisible to them, allowing much lower requirements.

I hope this helps out with playing in the future, and opens up more people to join us in our endeavor.
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
It honestly depends on your computer. Because frameskip (currently) tries to set the framerate as high as it can, it is a variable framerate to some degree. If your computer is not struggling, Frameskip 1 will put you at 42 fps, and Frameskip 2 puts you at 30 fps. If your computer is weak/drops frames, it can go down to 30 fps at frameskip 1, and go down to 20 fps at frameskip 2.
 

Winter_Sun

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 11, 2013
Messages
22
Location
Connecticut
Just started playing recently, had a good experience playing with this group of players today, I'd recommend checking melee online out.
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
There's another thing I need to mention that a lot of people with custom made computers should check. My stupid computer decided to clock my ram to the lowest supported speed, 1066, by setting the clock manually to its normal speed (1600) I was able to squeeze out 15 extra FPS without even touching overclocking. This seems to be a problem on a lot of Asus motherboards, so if you're technically proficient, you may want to check it out. Also, if you're willing to overclock ram, it's another great way to get some extra performance out of your computer with very little added risk.
 

ffj

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 12, 2013
Messages
1
Hey! Could someone add me to the skype group please?
'ffjboi'
thanks!
 

Fishaman P

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 28, 2011
Messages
184
Location
Central Wisconsin
There's another thing I need to mention that a lot of people with custom made computers should check. My stupid computer decided to clock my ram to the lowest supported speed, 1066, by setting the clock manually to its normal speed (1600) I was able to squeeze out 15 extra FPS without even touching overclocking. This seems to be a problem on a lot of Asus motherboards, so if you're technically proficient, you may want to check it out. Also, if you're willing to overclock ram, it's another great way to get some extra performance out of your computer with very little added risk.
15FPS from increasing DDR3 RAM speed? That's unheard of. I could only see that if you were already getting 200FPS.
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
Ram is one of the most important things for dolphin, because the processor has to constantly communicate with ram. I'm starting to realize how much a proper computer build is really worth, compared to budget/kits from manufacturers. There are tons of little performance things that are very important for speed to be maximized for a computer. I never realized how important RAM can be, people with DDR2, low end DDR3 can be hurt quite a bit, even with a borderline processor. I'll continue to test more computer parts to make sure I can figure out exactly how it works. Still, faster processor is the best way to increase your speed. As well, nVidia's drivers tend to be faster than ATi for Dolphin. Fast ram can make a 10 - 15% difference in FPS vs budget ram, so it's always important to do your research on it as well.
 

omniholy

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
20
I installed Dolphin on my mac but I'm facing one problem. I can't air dodge, or pause->reset during a match because I can't press L or R while in the air or in start menu. I CAN shield and roll for some reason. I can also L-Cancel it looks like. But I CANNOT air dodge/wavedash, or pause to reset.

If it helps, on my GCPad, L is set to Axis 55+, L-Analog to Axis 55-+. R is Axis 54+, R-Analog is Axis 54-+.

Thanks in advance!
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
It's because you have no analog button set. If you're using a controller with no L/R buttons, and just sliders like the 360 controller, you must set the threshold low that the emulator triggers the button press.

Also, Qchat is broken right now. If you can use a normal IRC client and connect to us, that would be the preferable option anyway.
 

noobird

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Messages
244
If it helps, on my GCPad, L is set to Axis 55+, L-Analog to Axis 55-+. R is Axis 54+, R-Analog is Axis 54-+.
I don't know if this is entirely correct; but analog is when the shoulder buttons are depressed BEFORE the click and at the very bottom of the click. For digital L and R, you should have it set as the actual clicks, which *I think* map to buttons 4 and 5.

Anyone have tips for audio/input lag other than a better PC/graphics card lol.
 

omniholy

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
20
It's because you have no analog button set. If you're using a controller with no L/R buttons, and just sliders like the 360 controller, you must set the threshold low that the emulator triggers the button press.

Also, Qchat is broken right now. If you can use a normal IRC client and connect to us, that would be the preferable option anyway.
I'm actually using a Gamecube controller connected through the Magic joy box 3 in 1 adapter.

I don't know if this is entirely correct; but analog is when the shoulder buttons are depressed BEFORE the click and at the very bottom of the click. For digital L and R, you should have it set as the actual clicks, which *I think* map to buttons 4 and 5.

Anyone have tips for audio/input lag other than a better PC/graphics card lol.
My buttons 4 and 5 are like X/Y respectively.
 

danny135

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 25, 2012
Messages
150
Location
Puerto Rico
I installed Dolphin on my mac but I'm facing one problem. I can't air dodge, or pause->reset during a match because I can't press L or R while in the air or in start menu. I CAN shield and roll for some reason. I can also L-Cancel it looks like. But I CANNOT air dodge/wavedash, or pause to reset.

If it helps, on my GCPad, L is set to Axis 55+, L-Analog to Axis 55-+. R is Axis 54+, R-Analog is Axis 54-+.

Thanks in advance!
You have the analog buttons set to two axes. You have them set to both the negative and the positive axes. Each one of them should only be one. Either negative or positive. (Unless you're adapter is just weird.)

You should probably set the buttons to actual buttons, as well.
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
Yeah, what Danny said is correct. The R and L on the Gamecube controller has a click at the bottom, if you hold it right above that click, and then hit the box to set key, you can set that button to be the same thing as on the gamecube. That will make the R and L work properly.

And Noobird, if the game is going slow, you simply need a better CPU in most cases. If the audio is latent, you need a sound card. If the controls are latent, you could have a picky monitor, your GPU could be pre-rendering frames, and DWM could be eating your inputs. There's a plethora of information in the thread about how to quell these things, so I suggest you take a look at what other users have done.
 

GaretHax

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
464
I hate to butt in with something unrelated but JMC, the reason you saw a difference in performance when going from 1066 to 1600 was probably because your Ram was bottlenecking the rest of your system. The problem with overclocking ram (unless you are overclocking your whole system and need it faster for stability) is that once you exceed 1600 you start having greatly diminishing returns, mostly because you often need to loosen timings, in fact some people swear by underclocking ram with tight timings. The reality is that, Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1333-1600 MHz has such a large effective bandwidth that you will rarely see any performance increase past 1600 (or arguably 1333), outside of benchmark programs and system stability if you are overclocking your whole rig, from overclocking, provided you have sufficient capacity for your machine (4-8)gigs is more than enough for just about anyone. Anyway the frame skip code sounds very helpful, ill have to see how that works sometime.
 

Orngeblu

Smash Ace
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
748
Location
Rock Hill, South Carolina
3DS FC
0104-1846-4809
Hmm, I'd love to play this but then again I'm not sure if it will lag or not, and I'd need to find out how to get a controller working on my computer. :I (I have a Wii Classic Controller Pro, though. Not a Gamecube controller.)
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
GaretHax: Yeah, that's pretty much what my results went to. Clocking the ram to normal helped a lot more in general gameplay than overclocking another 266 MHz.

Orngeblu: Wii Classic Controller Pro works pretty good for Melee in my opinion, but you'll have to use a third party program to get it to connect to your computer, along with a bluetooth. I used it for a long time before getting a GC adapter, and it's not really laggy or anything, just a bit different.
 

pawclaw

Smash Cadet
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
32
Location
New Jersey
NNID
Pawclaw
Anyone on the East Coast want to play on netplay? I have yet to find someone to play :/

Also, any recommended settings? I lowered everything. However, I'm sure there's some way to optimize it beyond the natural selections and such
 

Upke

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 7, 2012
Messages
429
Location
Savannah, GA / Cary, NC
Just ask in the IRC every once and a while. Sometimes people are busy, but there are times like right now where there is probably 20 people in the chat, mostly active.

As for the settings, just refer to the settings in the OP's instructions then if you have further concerns, you can ask JMC47 in the IRC for advice. He's helped a lot of people through the set up, so he'll know anything you need or want.
 

Kaffei

Smash Hero
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
7,048
@JMC4789: I forwarded my ports but people can't connect to me for some reason =(
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
If people can't connect to you, check and make sure your firewall isn't blocking. Also make sure you're giving your external IP to people, not the internal one from the command prompt. I ran out of time yesterday when writing the additional parts of the post.
 

SaggyG

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
52
Location
Federal Way
Yo, we're having our second online tournament next week, July 26th.
http://challonge.com/LagtacsII

You can register here: http://challonge.com/tournaments/signup/eHUv8DCkuO

Entry is free, but we do plan on having paypal entree fees for Lagtacs III. This is so the winner can actually get some prize. This all depends on how popular Lagtacs II is.

IRC is @Rizon #dolphin-ssbm. You can use Mibbit if you don't have an IRC client.
 

oukd

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
1,464
do entrants have to have hosting capability

because i totally dont have hosting capability
 

Dux

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
4
Hey im having issues with the gc controller, i have the mayfalsh adapter,and windows xp when im on the character screen, when i press start dolphin recognize it as "b" and take me out of the screen, any suggestions?. Thanks in advance
 

Fishaman P

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 28, 2011
Messages
184
Location
Central Wisconsin
Hey im having issues with the gc controller, i have the mayfalsh adapter,and windows xp when im on the character screen, when i press start dolphin recognize it as "b" and take me out of the screen, any suggestions?. Thanks in advance
It sounds like you mapped your controller incorrectly in Dolphin.
 

SaggyG

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
52
Location
Federal Way
If you can't host, just let the TOs know. This would include Me (Saggy,) Upke, SaberPrime, and Jknojoker. We will seed you appropriately so that you meet up in the bracket with those who can host.

We are currently testing out a new build for Dolphin that will support uPnP. This will allow you to host even if you cannot port forward. The build will also have improvements on speed and theoretically no desynchs on dualcore.

If you have any questions, come into our IRC room @Rizon #dolphin-ssbm
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
Theoretically no desyncs assuming proper conditions/configuration. It still isn't perfect (which Single Core will be improved by the patch as well, perhaps it will be perfect?) but it should be suitable enough for tournament matches unlike the massive problems we had last time.
 

JMC4789

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
213
This is a pretty big thing to announce out of nowhere really, but, we've found out that in 1301, there is a way to make Dualcore near perfect for most people who play Melee netplay. Dualcore was thought to be impossible for a long time, but for the past few days I've been messing around with it a lot, and I found out that there is a particular group of settings that works in our latest build (and not older builds as well, for some reason) pretty decently. Basically, it comes down to a few factors as to whether Dualcore will work properly for you. Here are the rules for successful dualcore play.

1: You cannot be recording/interfering with the video thread in any way. If the video thread falls behind, it will likely desync.
2: You cannot use OpenGL for dualcore, the second match will be offset by one frame due to a glitch in the back-end.
3: Three/Four core computers recommended to keep both of Dolphin's threads clean. If you absolutely must a dualcore computer is required, but we cannot guarantee as good of syncing in that case. Try not to run any background programs that are not necessary. The faster your computer, the more likely it is to sync.
4: Slowdown/Net-latency does not cause desyncs, so don't fret about the buffer too much. I tested it with a program designed to delay/mess up packets; it won't be a problem.
5: Spectators cannot use Dualcore, period.
6: BUT, Spectators using Single Core will sync with people on dualcore. As well, someone who prefers OpenGL can play on OpenGL if they stay in Single-Core. Mac/Linux users will have to stick to this for now, or play single rounds at a time.
7: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Party 4 are the only games that sync in dualcore.

Otherwise, just remember that single-core is by far more stable, and likely 100% stable in the prototype build I've been testing out, if you're playing long games, like Mario Party, it's probably better to use Single Core. If you're doing single rounds in Melee or friendlies, there's really no harm to using Dualcore. If you're looking to record? Make sure you're on single core, most recorders hook into the video plugin and will cause it to lag and desync!
 

Zodiac

Smash Master
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
3,557
It has been working for me since we started earlier today, it has the some amount of latency as 1v1, so not much, and this is my computer set up

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Processor 3.30 GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6870
8 GB DDR3 Ram
 
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